Thursday, December 17, 2009

It's Beginning to Look (and Sound) a Lot Like Christmas

My name is Kristen and I have an addiction to all things Christmas. Candles scented like pine (since we have the fake tree, they are necessary), sparkly ornaments, Santa hats...and the music. Oh, how I love the music.

I am not allowed to listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving. And I have to stop on New Year's Day. But in between, it is playing on the iPod at every opportunity.

Every year we add a new CD to the collection. This year, because my kids are big fans, we added The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection. This wasn't as painful as you might think. Taylor is OK. A big upgrade from The Wiggles and Hi-5, which were staples of Christmases past. Although I have to say I kind of loved Hi-5. I am sad to see them moved out of the rotation.

One of my favorites, which is not even remotely appropriate for kids is Merry Christmas from the Family. Anything that starts with "Mom got drunk, and Dad got drunk..." is probably not quite right for the kiddies. But it sure is funny.

So that covers the music side of things.

The day after Thanksgiving we also get out our big box of Christmas books. We've been adding to the box every year. The books don't even really fit in the box anymore.

The kids love the interactive nature of Dear Santa Claus (I can't get the link to go to the hardcover edition - but that's the good one!) Each page has a letter to Santa in a real envelope and there is a little book of reindeer jokes, an advent calendar, etc. We always have to negotiate who gets to read what and who gets to open the envelopes. Good times.

My favorite Christmas book has to be The Christmas Crocodile. "The Christmas crocodile didn't mean to be bad. Not Really." The pictures are hysterically funny as the crocodile eats his way through Christmas. Love it.

And then my most recent favorite is just called Santa Claus. This is an amazing pop-up book that is presented like an encyclopedia of information about Santa. It is really well done and even my older kids think it is completely factual.

So there you go - our Christmas media list. Fun music and books that mark the season for us. Hope something in there rings a bell (jingle jingle) for you and helps make your holidays as merry as they can be!

Do you have a book that you love that you can recommend? We are always looking for good ones. Any songs I need to add to my collection? Let me know!

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About Me

I am a suburban mom. I have the two cutest kids ever (I know you think yours are, but you are wrong).
I think I am fun. I want to be fun. But it can be hard to be kid-fun. So, I will share with you what we are doing to keep things entertaining.